A/N: If anyone is reading this fic, PLEASE review! I'd really appreciate it! And to anyone who reads this, if I'm a bit innaccurate, sorry, I haven't watched Escaflowne for a loooooooong time. This is my first story, so I'm pretty happy about the way it's turning out, even though no one's reading it.

Chapter 2: Of Cabbages and Kings

Apocalypse and Faye had wandered aimlessly for hours before Faye noticed the setting sun. "Oh God," She mumbled under her breath before crying out, "Where are we?"

"Shhh!" Apocalypse hushed her. "Not so loud, you don't know what's out there." She continued on, making her way through the trees and scrub scattered along the floor of the backwoods. For the sake of Faye, she had to keep a cool exterior.

"Can we please take a break?" Faye whispered.

"What?" Apocalypse hissed, her eyes struggling to adjust to the darkness of nighttide, causing her to turn and look at Faye out of pure instinct.

"I said, can we ple-" Before she could go on, Faye let out a piercing scream and stumbled backwards.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Apocalypse cocked a brow before turning and walking right into a broad-shouldered shadow, resulting in a not-so-graceful pile on the ground.

"Who are you and what do you want?" The dark figure barked at them. Apocalypse opened her mouth to speak but nothing except a pitiful squeak escaped. Faye crawled out from underneath her and scrambled away.

"Answer me! Who are you?"

"We're lost! We don't mean any harm, dammit, we're just…" Apocalypse paused. They were lost, on some sort of strange planet or maybe a different dimension. "Lost." She said softly.

There was a long, stretched out silence between the two girls and the figure before it said, "Two women, what trouble could they possibly be?" It chuckled, obviously some sort of inside joke that neither Faye nor Apocalypse understood. "Alright, how about this?" The figure reclined on its haunches, revealing a masculine face. The man had tousled blonde hair and dark brown eyes. "I'll take you home to my wife and she'll clean you two up. You look hungry and tired."

"We are!" They yelled in unison as the man helped them both up.

He stuck out one rough hand. "Jordan," He smiled warmly. Faye shook his hand, but Apocalypse stared at it coldly.

"Not so friendly, are you?" Jordan narrowed his eyes at Apocalypse.

Faye rolled her eyes. "Let's just say she's a very mistrustful person," She sighed. "Can you tell us where we are?"

"You are in Urthas," Jordan said simply.

Apocalypse and Faye both stared at him blankly. "Fanelia…?" He looked at them with an incredulous expression. "Well you must know that you are in Gaea."

"Gaea?" Apocalypse shook her head. "Never heard of it." She exhaled loudly and gripped her head tightly. "My god, I have the world's biggest migraine. Can you just take us to your house and let us eat and sleep and then we'll try to figure this out later on."

"Fine." He said curtly, then turned to Faye with a softened expression. "Come, my lady, my wife is probably making a bit of dinner. I'm almost positive you will adore it."

Apocalypse trailed behind them, grumbling under her breath, "And what am I, chopped liver?"

Jordan's home was much quainter then either of them had anticipated, but by then they had come to expect the unexpected. Jordan had taken them through a small market, illuminated by the warm glow of candlelight and oil lamps, giving them a glimpse at the life of people on Gaea.

"They all seem so…" Faye began, but Apocalypse finished for her.

"Medieval." Her voice was glazed with suspicion.

"Yeah," Faye nodded.

"You aren't from around here, are you?" Jordan inquired absent-mindedly.

"Nooooo," Apocalypse exaggerated the vowel, sarcasm clear in her tone. "What gave you that idea?"

Jordan shot her a bothered glare, but continued. "Well, for one thing, your attire is definitely not from anywhere on Gaea, at least not anywhere that I know of. And you seem quite shocked by my people, judging from the expressions on your faces."

"It's a bit hard to explain how exactly we got here," Faye began. "You see, me and Caly were standing outside together by a dock. It was late at night and we were talking… I forget what about, but suddenly, a pillar of light just shot down and I guess we were trans…ported… here." By the time she had finished her sentence, Faye was blinking rapidly. "Wait, maybe I'm dreaming."

Meanwhile, Apocalypse had stopped listening to their conversation and was lost in her own thoughts. 'Maybe I just have a concussion and I'm hallucinating… or maybe I'm dead and I just went to heaven…. Or maybe I'm in a parallel universe…. How am I supposed to get home?' She sighed, tears threatening at her eyes again but she curled her lower lip and put on a relentless face, masking her misery. 'Anything would be better then my life on Earth. I hate myself. But Faye, she has a better life then me. She deserves to-'

"What!" Jordan snapped, stopping dead in his tracks. "Speak no more and follow me. Quickly!" he grabbed Faye's wrist and pulled her into a small home.

'Of course, grab her and not me.' Apocalypse thought bitterly as she ran in behind them. Jordan slammed the door shut and locked it tightly.

"You came through a pillar of light?" He asked. Faye looked distraught.

"Yes, is this a bad thing?" She asked, cocking a brow.

"No, no… I'll explain to you later. For now," He turned his head. "Celesta!" He called, and a short, thin woman with long mousy brown hair with an elvish face appeared with a baby in her arms.

"Yes, my darling?" She turned to look at Faye and Apocalypse. "I see you've brought guests." She mumbled, skepticism coating her tongue.

"Celesta, I have reason to believe they are from the Mystic Moon." He said softly into her ear. Celesta's eyes widened slowly as she rocked the baby, who had begun to cry in a rotten manner.

"You mean, like the… the girl, Hitomi?" She breathed. Jordan simply nodded and Celesta looked at Faye and Apocalypse in a form of disgust.

Apocalypse cringed away from her harsh glare. She had seen that one too many times. From children at elementary, from the girls at High School, from people off the street… from her father. She had to shake her head in order to rid herself of those images.

Celesta nodded. "Alright then ladies, what are you to be called?"

"I'm Faye, she is Apocalypse, but you can call her Caly for short," Faye gestured to an irritated Apocalypse.

"Only Faye and my mother call me Caly. Since you are neither, my name is Apocalypse until further notice." She turned her head away just so that she wouldn't see the hatred in their eyes.

Celesta had made each of them some thick brew, including herself.

Apocalypse took a careful sip, before spitting it out and using every ounce of her being not to gag. "What is this?" She pushed the bowl out in front of her as Faye gave her a warning look.

"It is cabbage soup, and it is all that I have so perhaps you should learn to appreciate what you are given," Celesta said harshly.

"I know, I know, it's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got. I've heard it all before." Apocalypse retorted in a teasing tone of voice, shaking it off with a wave of her hand.

Jordan simply stared at her in disbelief. "I cannot understand why you are so cold. Me and my wife take you into our home and this is how you thank us?" he looked pleadingly at Faye. "Why?"

Before Apocalypse could give another quick-witted response, Faye intervened. "Caly isn't feeling herself today."

"Why not?" Celesta asked in a false manner of concern.

"Because…" Faye turned to Apocalypse, who gave her a sharp flicker of her eyes. Faye turned back to Jordan and Celesta. "Because she's sick with the flu and it makes her a bit sensitive."

Apocalypse sighed a breath of relief, but that relief of short-lived as the memories of the man and the hellhole flooded back into her tortured mind and she winced with the dolor. She pushed the soup away even farther.

Faye was given a bed on a worn down mattress and Apocalypse slept on the floor with a down pillow and a few thin sheets. Faye had fallen asleep immediately, leaving Apocalypse marveling at the fact that Faye was so relaxed.

As she was about to drift into a dream-like state, voices snapped Apocalypse back to reality. "How do you know they come from the Mystic Moon?" Celesta's voice oozed into her ears.

"They say they came through a pillar of bright light, as did Hitomi. And their apparel, have you ever seen such clothing anywhere in Gaea?" Jordan hissed.

"This does not mean they are from the Mystic Moon." Celesta said in a hushed tone as the baby began to coo softly.

"They say that they were lost and had never heard of Gaea, let alone Fanelia. They also have a peculiar way of talking. Would you care to explain that, my love?" Jordan tipped his head, trying not to let his ego show.

After a long pause, Celesta sighed. "They could be bluffing," She murmured. "It has been near two months since that girl left Gaea. How is it possible that so soon another two would arrive?"

Jordan pondered that notion for a few minutes. "I'm not sure I am the one to ask this question," he said thoughtfully. "We must address someone of a higher authority."

'Higher authority? What is that supposed to mean?' Apocalypse's brow furrowed. 'Could they be sending the police on us? Wait a minute… they said Faye and me were from the "Mystic Moon," Could they be meaning Earth? Or maybe they're thinking of the Moon. And who's Hitomi? Oh, I wanna go home.' She felt tears stinging at her eyes again as visions of her mother overflowed her mind, and she remembered how they had broken apart, how she didn't even know her mother anymore. 'Who am I kidding? Here, Earth, what's the difference?' With that thought, Apocalypse drifted into a dreamless slumber.

A violent hand was shaking her as Apocalypse groaned and turned onto her stomach. "Uhh, god, whoever's shaking me better stop if they value their asses," She grumbled. The hand, however, was relentless. Apocalypse let out an animalistic growl and jumped onto the one who disturbed her sleep.

She was simply pushed back onto the covers. An ominous man was standing above her. "Miss, you are to come with me." He said firmly.

"Are you the police?" She asked, looking behind the man to find Faye standing beside another man. Both men were dressed in strange clothing, Apocalypse thought, as if they were knights or some sort of monarchial… CLICK authority! That's what Jordan and Celesta were talking about! They must have called upon some royal guards or something to take them away.

The man laughed, but it wasn't a 'frolic-around-in-the-flowers' type laugh, more of an 'I'm-going-to-kill-you-now-and-I'm-really-gonna-enjoy-it' laugh. Apocalypse shrunk back. As she did, she felt anger bubbling up to the surface of her skin and she felt her sanity slipping, and she strove to keep control. She didn't want the park incident to happen again.

"Are you not the two girls from the Mystic Moon?" He inquired grasping Apocalypse's elbow and pulling her up.

"Can someone please just tell me WHAT THE HELL THE MYSTIC MOON IS!" She screamed, frustration getting the best of her.

The man simply chuckled and tugged her roughly to follow him. He was moving so quickly that Apocalypse could barely keep up and she fell in an ungraceful heap behind him. "Get up," He rolled his eyes as if to say, 'what an idiot'.

Faye and Apocalypse were thrown into a carriage with dark windows and black curtains. It seemed as if the two guards were trying to hide them from the rest of the world. For a few minutes the carriage was still when it suddenly jerked to a start, causing both girls to fly off their seats with shouts of surprise.

"Caly, are you okay?" Faye breathed, still shocked.

"Never better," Apocalypse mumbled. "I think they're taking us to come sort of prison."

"But why? What did we do?" Faye sat back upon the lame excuse for a seat with a whimper. "Oh god I just wanna go home. What if we can never go home?"

"I wouldn't miss it too much," Apocalypse sighed. "What kind of life do I have there? I don't even have a future."

Faye's mouth shot open. "What's wrong with you?" She cried, tears brimming in her eyes. "Don't you ever want to see your mother again? Your home? The place you grew up in? Don't you miss any of that?" A steady stream of tears was rolling down Faye's face.

"She's not my mother!" Apocalypse shouted back, feeling as if someone had just stabbed her chest. She had never known her real mother or father of any of her family. She couldn't even remember half of her childhood, and that was what hurt the most.

Faye sniffled. "I'm so sorry, Caly. It's just that… I'm…. I'm…" She gulped. "Creeped out by all of this."

Apocalypse huffed, trying to act as if she was numb to the pain she was feeling. "Same here. But we gotta suck it up. If we live through whatever those two men are gonna do, then maybe we could try and get home. It's worth a try. It's better then crying and feeling sorry for ourselves anyway."

Faye nodded and wiped away a tear. "Right. We'll get through this." She nodded and stared out into space.

Apocalypse turned away and leaned her head on the wall of the carriage. 'Christ. What am I saying? They could do anything to us. Rape, torture. Hell, they could even kill right here, right now.' She trembled as discreetly as she could with this thought.

"What are you saying, Lantos?" The boy upon the throne said in a soft tone. "That they are from the Mystic Moon?" He gestured to Faye and Apocalypse, who were standing in the middle of a large hall packed with people in regal clothing.

"Yes, my lord. Or so claims this man," He pointed to Jordan, who had apparently followed Apocalypse and Faye after they were taken from his home.

"But it… can't be," The boy spat. For a long time everyone was silent. Apocalypse studied the boy. He didn't look much older then herself. And it seemed to be that he was a king or prince of some sort as everyone addressed him a 'lord'. But how could a young boy be a lord?

"This is so weird," Faye tried to speak in an undertone. "Is that guy the king or something?"

"Supposedly," Apocalypse said through clenched teeth.

"What's your name?" The boy asked Jordan, who immediately gave it.

"Jordan," The boy began. "How did you come across those two?"

"Well my lord, I was in the forest gathering kindling for my fireplace when I heard some rustling in the brush a few feet in front of me, and I went to investigate. I questioned who they were and they told me they were lost and that they had never heard of Fanelia or Gaea at all. They also claim that they came through a pillar of light, and did Hitomi not come through a pillar of light as well?" Jordan glanced at Faye and gave a reassuring smile. Faye just scowled at him and mouthed, 'traitor'. Jordan looked away.

The boy was stroking his chin. "Yes, she did…" He said thoughtfully and gazed at the ceiling, then without any notice, his eyes pierced Apocalypse. "What's your name?"

"Apocalypse Reynaldo," She said. His line of vision locked with hers in a battle of wit. Apocalypse lowered her gaze, feeling jaded by everything that was going on.

He turned to Faye. "And you are…?"

"Faye Penburg," Her voice was steady and strong.

The boy looked at Faye the way he looked at Apocalypse, but Faye never dropped her eyes.

"Lord Van," The guard known as Lantos said. 'Van?' Apocalypse thought. 'What a name. Then again, who I am to be saying that about him? My name is Apocalypse'. "What shall we do with them?"

"Lantos, Nathaniel, take both of them to any empty room you see fit and make sure that they don't get away. I'm putting them under your charge." Van spoke with sharpness to his voice. "I will require their presence at dinner tonight."

"Yes, my lord." Both guards said and took Faye and Apocalypse up a winding set of stairs to a room with two large windows and a bunch of blankets and linen. Apocalypse guessed it was something of a laundry room.

"Stay here." Lantos said. "If you need anything, just ask one of the maids." Both guards walked away. Apocalypse smirked. Some guards, they were supposed to watch us, she thought.

Faye sat down upon a pile of white sheets and pillowed her head in her knees. "This is a nightmare." She moaned.

Apocalypse sat down beside her, snaking an arm around Faye's shoulders. "I know, I know. Just remember what I said and don't let anyone give you any bull. It'll be okay."

"How do you know?" Faye asked, her voice full of doubt. Apocalypse opened her mouth, but just then the thought hit her- she didn't know what was going to happen to them.

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